Abstract: The materials of Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. cover the period from December 1968 to August 1974 when General Haig served as
Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff for President
Richard Nixon. The records include congratulatory messages to General Haig and a date book maintained by General Haig of President
Nixon's daily activities.

Language of Material: English

Access

Collection is open for research. Some materials may be unavailable based upon categories of materials exempt from public release
established in the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974.

Publication Rights

Most government records are in the public domain; however, this series includes commercial materials, such as newspaper clippings,
that may be subject to copyright restrictions. Researchers should contact the copyright holder for information.

These materials are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration under the provisions of Title I of
the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-526, 88 Stat. 1695) and implementing regulations.

Biography/Administrative History

Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was born on December 2, 1924 in the Philadelphia suburb Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. He was the son
of Alexander Meigs Haig, an assistant city solicitor of Philadelphia, and Regina Anne (née Murphy). Haig attended the University
of Notre Dame for two years before transferring to the U.S. Military Academy in 1944. Upon graduation in 1947, Second Lieutenant
Haig served in Japan with the First Calvary Division, then as an aide to Lt. General Edward “Ned” Almond in Europe. He also
served on General Douglas Macarthur’s staff in Japan before and during the Korean War. While in Japan, Haig was assigned as
an aide to General Alonzo P. Fox, MacArthur’s deputy chief of staff. In 1950, Haig married Maj. Gen. Fox’s daughter, Patricia
Antoinette Fox.
After the Korean War, Haig left the military for two years to study business administration at Columbia University. Soon thereafter,
Haig returned to the military and he was a student at the Naval War College from 1959 to 1960. He then studied at Georgetown
University for a master’s degree in International Relations, which he received in 1962.
In 1962, General Haig was selected as a staff officer to the deputy chief of staff for military operations in the Pentagon.
Soon Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance named Haig his military assistant. In 1964, he was appointed deputy special assistant
to Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara. In 1965, he left the Pentagon to attend the Army War College for a year. After graduating,
Haig was deployed to Vietnam. When his tour of duty ended in 1967, Haig was appointed regimental commander of cadets at his
alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy.
In January 1969, Haig became the senior military adviser to Henry Kissinger, the assistant to the President for national security
affairs. General Haig became deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon for national security affairs in 1970. Haig was promoted
to full general in 1972 and, a year later, left the White House to become the vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army. In May
1973, Haig was brought back to the White House to replace White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, who had resigned on April
30, 1973. After President Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, Haig served temporarily as chief of staff under President
Gerald Ford.
President Ford appointed Haig to the post of Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) in late 1974. Haig left the military in 1979 to become the president of United Technologies Corporation, a defense
contractor. On January 22, 1981, Haig was sworn in as President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State. He left the position after
serving for 18 months.
In 1984, Haig founded Worldwide Associates Inc., a global consulting firm. That same year, he wrote about his time with the
Reagan administration in Caveat: Realism, Reagan, and Foreign Policy. In 1988, Haig was a candidate for the Republican Presidential
nomination. He pulled out of the race after the Iowa caucuses. In 1992, he wrote his autobiography, Inner Circles: How America
Changed the World.
Haig appeared on television programs such as World Business Review, on which he replaced Caspar Weinberger as the program’s
moderator, and 21st Century Business. In addition, he was an advisor to Newsmax Media, a member of the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, and a founding board member of American Online. General Haig died of complications from an infection
on February 20, 2010 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Scope and Content of Collection

The materials of Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. cover the period from December 1968 to August 1974 when General Haig served as
Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff for President
Richard Nixon. The materials are arranged into two series, personal correspondence and President’s activities.
The materials in the personal correspondence series begin in December 1968 during the transition period of President-Elect
Richard Nixon. The subjects of these correspondences are primarily congratulatory letters to General Haig on his promotion
to the rank of General in the United States Army and on his initial position with the Nixon Administration as senior military
adviser to Henry Kissinger. The series also contains congratulatory messages to General Haig when he obtained his positions
as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff. Additional
subjects of this series consist of correspondence to General Haig from individuals seeking positions with the Nixon Administration,
requests for speaking engagements by General Haig, and requests for autographed photographs. When General Haig becomes Chief
of Staff for President Nixon in 1973 through when President Nixon resigns from office in August 1974, the materials in this
series contain letters from acquaintances and the general public indicating their support or disapproval of President Nixon.
The series also contains General Haig’s responses to these inquiries.
The materials in the President’s activities series consist of a date book maintained by General Haig of President Nixon’s
daily activities. The date book covers the period January 1, 1973 to July 28, 1974 and portions of the date book appear to
contain General Haig’s handwriting. The subjects in the date book pertain to either meetings that President Nixon was involved
with or indicating President Nixon’s location on a particular day. Locations include the White House, Camp David, the Western
White House in San Clemente, California or trips abroad.